Sunday, January 08, 2012

WINDING OUR WAY THROUGH NARROW BISBEE STREETS

We had a patchy cloud cover this morning and that kept things on the cool side for the entire day. Wind picked up mid afternoon and that just simply made it too cold to be outside.JEAN LIKES TO READ THE BLOG IN THE MORNING SO I CARRY MY LAP TOP OVER TO THE RANCH HOUSE
Decided to take the Jeep on our travels today because I knew we were going to get ourselves into some vary narrow and tight spots. And, before noon….we did just that.WE GOT KELLY PACKED INTO THE BACK OF THE JEEP FOR TODAY’S DRIVE
Rolled out of the Ranch around 10 heading for Douglas, Arizona. Jean wanted to have a look at the old historic western town so we ambled ourselves right down the center of the empty Sunday morning main street. A right turn just short of the Mexican border took us to Walmart where we all barreled out of the Jeep & headed insideATTENTION WALMART SHOPPERS……
Jean remarked several times what a nice store it was we sauntered around through the grocery aisles and a few other spots. Back into the Jeep with Kelly on her little seat of pillows in the back. Bisbee Arizona was our next stop as we enjoyed a few storm tossed clouds overhead.WORKING OUR WAY AROUND SOME NARROW BISBEE STREETS
Figured we would do some of the narrowest and toughest streets in Bisbee right off the bat, so without further adieu we headed right up through the narrow and twisting single lane rough roads just east of Brewery Gulch. It's the road that leads to the trailhead for hiking up to the big white cross towering high overtop Bisbee on a high steep hillside. You can read & see my post and pictures from the day Kelly and I hiked up there, HERE. Coincidentally, earlier that day we had met LAURIE AND ODEL for the first time at the BISBEE BREAKFAST CLUB. OH OH, TIGHT SQUEEZE COMING UP…..(AND IT WAS)CLOSE QUARTERS GOING BY SOMEONE’S PORCH
Jean sure got a kick out of the ride and breathtaking sights as we cautiously squeaked our way around corners and seemingly over rooftops. It gives one a real Peter Pan feeling but is not for the faint of heart or the driver of a large vehicle. If you come to Bisbee and have a small vehicle, then be sure to get yourself up through the winding streets, lanes and alleyways for a true sense of where you really are.WE REALLY WANTED JEAN TO SEE THIS BOTTLE WALL
Made our way north to Kelly’s favorite little eatery in Bisbee, the High Desert Market Café. It’s a popular spot for Bisbee goers and anyone looking for a little spot that does all it’s own baking & pizza’s, etc. The Girls had Southwest Sweet Potato & Black Bean soup. I had a small Pizza and the ladies also split a small Pizza. Kelly & I then shared a slice of chocolate cheese cake.A REFLECTION OF JEAN & KELLY IN THE HIGH DESERT CAFÉ WINDOWTHEY ARE REALLY ENJOYING THEIR SOUTHWEST SWEET POTATO & BLACK BEAN SOUP
From the High Desert Market Café it was back down the winding main street through the heart of Bisbee. What an absolutely great little town this is. Maybe not everybody’s cup of tea but it sure appeals to Kelly & I. But, then again, anything offbeat generally appeals to us:))
Next headed ourselves down to the little border town of Naco and showed Jean how people live down there. Jean is an avid Florida golfer so we drove her past the oldest Golf Course in Arizona too.GETTING A LITTLE CROWDED WITH ALL THE GROCERIES
My favorite Safeway grocery store was our next stop in Bisbee’s old town of San Jose. Again, love the wooden floor and directional soft lighting in their produce department. ALMOST BACK TO THE RIG….RANCH HOUSE ON THE RIGHT
Winds were picking up and the temperatures was dropping as we ski-daddled our way back to the Ranch through some on and off again light rain showers. Happy to see the Ranch bathed in sunlight as we got there. The whole welcoming committee ran to the gate as we pulled up. Pheebs had even brought her Teddy Bear out to meet us. Twenty minutes later Jean was comfortably in the rig’s passenger seat, tipped back and basking in the warm rays of the sun. zzzzzz:)) Another great day in the great State of Arizona…………….10-4:))THE WELCOMING COMMITTEEPEARCE STANDS BY THE TEDDY BEAR SUPER PHEEBS BROUGHT OUT TO THE GATE TO MEET US
All RV’ers, regardless of what we are driving or hauling, are no strangers to the problems of our rigs while traveling. New RVers over at TRAVELS WITH CC AND DIXIE certainly have had their share of troubles starting out. Here is a paragraph from their first Blog back in October of 2011. “ RV living has been a blast. There is plenty of room, meal preparation is easy and most of the campgrounds have been pleasant. Of course everything has not been ideal. We got a stone chip in the front windshield, one of the jacks has been problematic, Chris lost his glasses on a beach, I fell in the RV while it was moving but only a few bruises, the CRV brakes caught on fire once, our stairs have been stuck down a few times and we have been in a couple of dud campgrounds, but only one-nighters!” Later, while waiting for repairs to their rig somewhere on the West Coast, Caron broke her foot while hiking. Wet slippery rocks have a habit of doing that to people. Oh, and instead of one problematic jack, they went on to have 3 problematic jacks.HAPPY PHEEBS BARRELS INTO THE BACK OF THE JEEP
Thanks to JANNA for pointing out I had my Urologist mixed up with a Nephrologist which in turn confused me with a Neurologist which of course has nothing to do with a Psychologist but everything to do with a Socialologist. Fortunately nothing to do with a Proctologist. Now, that would be a bummer!! I think we’ll just keep it simple here at the Bunch as……… Dogologists. JEAN’S FAVORITE SPOT FOR AN AFTERNOON SIESTA
GROANER’S CORNER:(( An auditor is checking the books of an airline. He is puzzled by the excess use of fuel on a Melbourne to Canberra flight. He rings up the pilot and asks for an explanation.
"It was late at night'" says the pilot, "Canberra was covered in fog and I lost my bearings."
"I'm sorry," says the auditor, "but you'll have to bear the cost yourself."
"The cost of what?" asks the pilot. "Of the bearings you lost."
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The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of
right now...AL.

Shortly after moving to Arizona in 1958, I remember reading that Bisbee had purchased a fleet of Ford Falcons for their police dept. They figured the smaller size was more important than a lot of horsepower under the hood.

your blogs are so interesting..we all feel like we are right there pillowed up in the back of the jeep with Kelly...what a great sport Aunt Jean is...seems like shes game for anything...enjoy her visit...

Oh how we remember those streets in Bisbee! We scrambled around in our little Tracker like a mountain goat! We looked for the steepest and twistiest streets to explore! And visiting the weaving guild in the basement of the YMCA building was a highlight for me! ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Karen and Steve(Our Blog) RVing: Small House... BIG Backyard http://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com/

Just loved the streets of Bisbee a very challenging drive even with our small car. The J.A. Jance mystery writer's home town and your blog keep refreshing our fond memories of our visit to this interesting town.

AL'S CAMERA EQUIPMENT

A sometimes asked question readers have about my blog is what kind of a camera do I use. Well I have 8 of them and use them all. Five Nikon DSLR's, two quality Sony point and shoots plus one older Canon point and shoot.

'UPDATE':: July 2017 Thanks to a very generous blog reader I have been able to update my Nikon camera equipment and supplement my camera gear with a couple additional fine Sony cameras as well.I now have a 'donated' Nikon D7200 sporting my new Nikkor 18-300 3.5 zoom lens. Also have picked up a new Nikkor 1.8 primary 35mm lens. In addition I also now have a Sony RX100-3 camera as well as a Sony Exmore Cybershot. I have given my Canon Powershot point and shoot camera to a neighbor.

- In early 2017 I replaced my Nikon D-90 camera with a new D-3400 after the 'auto focus' feature on my aging D-90 quit working. The Nikon D-90 had been my work horse camera sporting a Nikkor 18-55mm 1:3.5-5.6 lens. I used this camera for most of my landscapes and I now have it set up for night photography where 'auto focus' is not necessary.

-My older faithful and favorite Nikon D-40 finally packed it in during the summer of 2015 and I replaced it with a new Nikon D-3100.

- Previous to my Nikon D-90, most of my photos were taken with my old faithful Nikon D-50 from 2006 to early 2011 whereupon the D-50 suffered a rather gruesome death when it fell off a table onto a cement porch in southeastern Arizona. The 70-300mm lens on the camera survived the fall but the D-50 did not. My Nikkor lenses are interchangable between the D-90 the D-3100 and the D-3400.